In the process of designing and developing power electronics inverters to be used in hybrid devices such as AC devices, an engineer/designer typically strives to capture product requirements as per intended applications. Once inverters are designed and deployed in hybrid vehicles and such hybrid vehicles are manufactured, the hybrid vehicles are made available to customers. Once in customers' possession, a hybrid vehicle is typically used as per design specifications and requirements. However, there is a possibility that such hybrid vehicles could be abused and used well above specifications, which may lead to faster degradation of electrical components such as switching semiconductors in power-electronic inverters used in such vehicles.
Since utilization of power-electronic inverters in hybrid vehicles is relatively new, a low-cost watchdog scheme for inverters may be advantageous to determine how a hybrid vehicle is driven and what a hybrid vehicle operator's behaviors and expectations are, which may then be used to increase the life-span of electrical components inside the vehicle and/or increase fuel efficiency of such vehicles.